Under CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam is changing for good. Assam, which at the time suffered from both terrorism and state’s silence on the same, is today leading from the front. With each passing day, the saffron party is widening its base in the state.
BJP sweeps Guwahati Civic Polls
In the recently conducted Guwahati civic polls (GMC), BJP led alliance attained a landslide victory. In the GMC polls, the Bhartiya Janta Party along with its ally Asom Gana Parishad registered victory on 58 seats in the 60-member corporation. BJP secured 52 seats singlehandedly and the Asom Gana Parishad added to the alliance by winning 6 seats.
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On the other hand, the main opposition party in the state i.e., Congress drew a blank. Debutants Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) managed one seat each. The AJP and AAP conquered the minority-dominated wards which used to be impregnable fortresses of the Congress.
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma expressed happiness over the election mandate. He highlighted that BJP has won an “overwhelming” mandate, obviously winning 52 seats out of 60 is no small achievement. He also marked the fact that the debutants have won the wards that were the Congress “vote banks”. He said, “The Congress is now zero, but the concerning part (for them) is that two new parties, AAP and AJP, were able to usurp their vote bank.”
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Not to mention, BJP applied its machinery to full use for the civic polls. From the top brass to simple workers, everyone associated with the party has toiled day and night to secure BJP’s massive win.
Under Himanta, Congress is reduced to zero
Congress is in the worst phase, since its foundation. The grand old party is already facing an existential crisis. The party that’s existence is in question has drawn flaks for scoring an exact zero in the civic polls.
On one hand, the political analysts have observed that the grand old party did not involve itself in any form of campaigning. None of the top leaders in Congress took the civic polls seriously. It seems as if Congress has reached a state where it does not even wish to contest elections. On the other hand, the Congress leaders are not willing to take any responsibility for the loss and the party’s lack of strategy. The party instead of introspecting had claimed that the election results have more to do with the ruling party’s “influence”.
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Assam Congress president Bhupen Borah told reporters that the party had hoped to win “but we suppose that the public believes that since the BJP is going to be in power for four more years in the state, they might as well vote for it in the civic polls too”.
The Congress also suffered due to last time defections; a disease Congress has been long inflicted with.
The voter turnout in the civic polls was 52.8 per cent, and the mandate went in favour of the BJP, with a win of 58 out of 60 seats. The mandate clearly indicates that Congress has lost its base in the state, and the dynamic rise of CM Himanta Biswa Sarma can be credited for it.